1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method, and more particularly, to a technology preferably used to detect a face of a person from image data and perform recognition processing for identifying a person of the detected face.
2. Description of the Related Art
As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-271310, a configuration is known for detecting a face of a person from image data and performing recognition processing for identifying a person of the detected face.
In addition, there is a known image processing apparatus configured to segment high resolution image data into a plurality of image data and to process the segmented image data in parallel. For example, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-253397, a configuration is known for controlling parameters in parallel in an encoding process.
By combining such techniques, a configuration may be conceivable, in which the high resolution image data is segmented, and recognition processing for identifying a person is performed in parallel for the respective segmented image data. In such an image processing apparatus, recognition processing for different persons can be made among the respective segmented image data. Therefore, it is possible to reduce a time taken for the recognition processing for all persons included in the image data before the segmentation.
However, if the recognition processing is performed on overall segmented image data at the same timing, it may be sometimes difficult to effectively reduce the time taken for the recognition processing. For example, in a moving picture containing image data of a plurality of frames, it is assumed that a person appears in any segmented image data at the timing of the face detection processing just before the start of the recognition processing. In addition, it is assumed that a person appears in another segmented image data slightly later than the timing of the face detection processing just before the start of the recognition processing. In this case, since the face detection processing and the recognition processing are performed for the first person as soon as he/she appears on a screen, it is possible to identify the person with a small time loss. However, in the case of the later person, the person is identified in the next recognition processing after the image is displayed, and then the first recognition processing is completed. Therefore, a much time loss is produced in waiting for completion of the first recognition processing.
In this manner, if the recognition processing is applied to a plurality of segmented image data at the same timing, the time taken until the recognition processing is completed after the person appears may increase in comparison with the person who appears in other segmented image data.